Liverpool U18s succumbed to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City at the Kirkby Academy on Saturday.
The young Reds dominated possession for large swathes of the first-half and were unlucky not to be ahead after Layton Stewart flashed one wide.
But it was set to be a day of misfortune for the Academy side after a deflected cross came in from the lively and direct Carlos Borges and fell into the path of Kai Sodje to smash home - only after officials missed what appeared to be a foul on defender Jarell Quansah.
The imposing Billy Koumetio, who has been mixing with Jurgen Klopp 's first-team squad and played an hour as he returns from injury, then made a mistake just 10 minutes into the second half when letting a pass from Luke Chambers run across his body inside the box.
Sodje pounced on the mistake and got in front of Koumetio before tackling the ball against him for it to cannon past goalkeeper Jakub Ojrzynski, who had made two excellent saves in the first-half at the feet of Darko Gyabi before tipping a long-range effort from Romeo Lavia over the crossbar that was destined for the top corner.
Despite Liverpool 's early pressure, City were well organised and defended in numbers while largely isolating the talented Layton Stewart at the head of the field.
The visitors were excellent coming forward in lighting fast counter-attacks and found their third after another quick breakaway from Borges, who broke from the midfield past the Liverpool defence before unselfishly slotting the ball across Ojrzynski for Sodje to fire home.
Towards the end of the game, the young Reds carried on pushing hard to find a goal and the hard-working midfielder Dominic Corness almost whipped a corner straight into the net, just as he did twice against Stoke City in the 5-0 win last week, only to see it headed off the line.
Stewart then fired one into the side netting after good play from Liverpool, who were without manager Marc Bridge-Wilkinson due to a family bereavement.
But the home side got their reward after substitute Isaac Mabaya, who only turned 16 on Tuesday and was making his U18s debut, performed well after coming on and slotted past Mikki Van Sas for to mark his maiden appearance at this level with a goal.
A backpass from Che Charles evaded the City goalkeeper and he tried to scoop it off the line but Melkamu Frauendorf collected quickly and rolled it across to Mabaya to fire home.
It was not an easy afternoon for the young Reds but they will no doubt learn from the experience, with several having shown excellent qualities against a strong City side.
